Report: Reddit gets new ad sales boss as its looks to broaden appeal

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Social discussion platform Reddit hired Harold Klaje, the former global head of growth at Pinterest, to oversee its revamped advertising sales team. He started at VP of advertising on May 13, replacing Zubair Jandali, the former VP of brand partnerships who remains an adviser to Reddit, Digiday reported..

Klaje's hiring follows Reddit's reorganization earlier this year of its sales team into three groups that focus on different segments of the advertising market. Its brand partnership team oversees awareness campaigns for major advertisers, while its growth partnership group is focused on direct-response (DR) marketers. Both teams receive creative services and support from Reddit's activation and enablement group, Digiday reported.

Advertisers have cut spending during the coronavirus pandemic, but Reddit forecasts that its sales will grow this year from 2019. The company hasn't announced any job cuts among its restructured sales organization of 150 employees, Reddit COO Jen Wong told Digiday.

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Reddit's hiring of Harold Klaje, whose background also includes a stint at Google, comes as the social discussion site seeks to broaden and diversify its clientele. The expansion includes stronger ties to DR marketers that are strongly positioned to reach shoppers on digital platforms, a key strategy as many retailers remain closed during pandemic lockdowns. Until those restrictions are lifted, digital media consumption is likely to remain elevated, giving Reddit's advertisers a chance to reach people with awareness and DR marketing efforts. Reddit last year grew its monthly active users (MAUs) by 30% to 430 million people who participate in its 100,000 online discussion groups, TechCrunch reported. That mass audience of engaged users makes the platform compelling for advertisers.

DR marketing can be a strong growth driver for Reddit, which mostly has focused on awareness campaigns for major brands. For example, S.C. Johnson's Method brand of eco-friendly cleaning products was among the 15 companies that tested Reddit's "trending takeover" ad format unveiled in March. The ads appear for 24 hours in different sections of its platform, including the Popular tab that helps users see trending topics. More than one-third of Reddit's users look at the Popular feed each day, making it a centralized hub for engaging audiences, per Reddit.

However, some marketers have pulled back on awareness-building marketing during the health crisis and are more focused on driving a response, agency executives told Digiday.

Before restructuring its sales team into three groups, Reddit had developed several programs to appeal to marketers. The company last year announced a collaboration with Oracle Data Cloud to provide brand safety controls among its discussion groups, where people can create accounts anonymously. Reddit also introduced an ad performance bundle that included campaign objectives such as app installs, reach, video view, traffic and conversions associated with bid types such as CPM, cost-per-view and cost-per-click.